Boy dies in cliff fall after partying

A public schoolboy has fallen 60 feet to his death after partying at a Cornish resort. George Frewer, who had just completed his lower sixth year at Radley College, Oxford, is thought to have fallen from the coast path above Polzeath beach as he made his way back to a rented holiday home early on Tuesday, his 17th birthday.

His body was discovered by walkers at 8.15 on Tuesday morning, floating near rocks at the foot of Tristram Cliff, and was recovered by Polzeath inshore lifeboat.

The boy's death, which is not being viewed as suspicious, follows a week of alcohol-fuelled violence at the north Cornwall resort, which attracts up to 1,000 public schoolboys and girls early in the summer holidays.

The resort, and the nearby village of Rock, became popular among well-heeled teenagers celebrating the end of term after Prince William and Harry partied there in their teens. Locals have branded the public schoolchildren "snob yobs" or "terrier toffs", and local police, who use two dedicated police officers to patrol the area between 10pm and 3am, have banned alcohol and issue dispersal orders to try to prevent beach parties.

In the past week there have been 17 arrests, eight fixed penalties for disorder and three drugs warnings. Revellers have ransacked a makeshift beachside police station and vandalised three cars and a police van. A teenager also fractured his skull in a fight with rival schoolboys. Three schoolboys may be charged.

The police officer leading the inquiry, Detective constable Nigel Hoare, said the death of George Frewer "was always going to happen ... because of what goes on in Polzeath every year. It is a terrible tragedy."